Reporter booked for publishing ‘fake news’ about minister

The journalist was booked on terror charges for allegedly publishing fake news about a sitting minister

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) police have booked a journalist on terror charges for allegedly publishing fake news about a sitting minister of the region and attempting to blackmail him.

A police contingent from the region arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to apprehend the reporter. G-B’s Minister for Information and Planning Iqbal Hasan had lodged a complaint with Gilgit police on Monday claiming that the reporter, Shabir Siham, had implicated him in a false case to extort money.

In the FIR, Hasan claimed that Siham, who hails from Baltistan but is based in Islamabad, had published news reports in English and Urdu newspapers in November and again in March accusing the minister of supplying girls from the region to the influentials.

“When I spoke to him he demanded Rs5 million as part of a deal to settle the matter. He also threatened me with dire consequences if I failed to provide [the money],” Hasan said in the FIR.

With the stories going viral on social media, the government took action. A committee headed by secretary home was constituted to probe the matter. The committee called the reporter in Gilgit to submit proof of his allegations.

The reporter, however, did not show up. Instead, he wrote on social media that he was available to meet with the authorities in Islamabad.

“We had repeatedly asked the reporter to appear before the committee and submit the evidence,” G-B government spokesman Faizullah Faraq said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2017.